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Tom_Coggia
New Participant
January 25, 2021

ESC key to back out 1 level

  • January 25, 2021
  • 31 replies
  • 8885 views

Like most users, I end up with many layers (often in nested groups) and sometimes I just want to back “up” one level to apply some settings, or nudge it with the keyboard, etc.
For example: I have a button (component) that is buried some levels down inside a few different nested groups, and I want to nudge it a few pixels to the left. Currently, I have to click/double-click on the element repeatedly until I reach the button (but not too deep or I’ll select the text which cannot be “nudged” with the arrow keys to move the button).
A trick I used often in Sketch is to command+click to directly jump to the deepest level, then tap the ESC key to go up one level where I can nudge to my heart’s content.
This 1/2 works in Figma. Command+click works - and is useful for text overrides, for example - but tapping the ESC key is a global deselect function.
While deselecting everything is sometimes useful, it’s easy to click on the artboard or an area with no objects if that’s what you want to do. It’s far more tedious to traverse many layers and the ability to reliably step up/down would be useful. The Enter key kinda does this for stepping down…the ESC key is the logical choice to step up.

31 replies

Gleb
Power Member
February 8, 2021

There is no such menu action. You need to use an amazing tool like Better Touch Tool or Keyboard Maestro to do that. Bind Esc to Shift + Enter. Or better Shift + Esc, since Esc has other actions depending on the context.

tschmeisser
February 15, 2021

I use the Select Parent plugin and have it mapped to CMD+` so I can left-hand it. macOS won’t allow ESC itself, but you can also map to CM+ESC. Shift+Enter doesn’t work to keep my hand on the mouse.

Burak
February 21, 2021

Thank you for sharing that plugin. How can I determine a shortcut for it?

Burak
February 21, 2021

oh Mac… I guess as a windows user we can’t do that.

Varun_Varshney
February 22, 2021

Just configured with Better Touch Tool. Feeling relieved.

David5
March 29, 2021

Hi,

I created this topic to follow this one https://spectrum.chat/figma/feature-requests/escape-key-should-select-parent-object~9125a5b1-c0cb-4b8b-bbee-22a09e0821e9 which was open in the previous community forum.

I think this feature has not been solve yet.

I’m new in Figma and it’s very annoying when you press escape that it unselect everything instead of going up in the tree structure (select the parent item).

Jc_Martel
March 29, 2021

I would suggest you remap your keyboard a bit like @Varun_Varshney say above. On Mac, you can also use karabiner and hotkeys on win (@Burak ). I am personally mapping “Return” to “CapsLock”, because it is a useless key imo. This way it is super easy to hit SHIFT+CAPS and go up, or just CAPS to move down. I’ve been using this since before I moved from Sketch to Figma. Also, I reco you map " ` " (the key just on the left of “1”) to “CTRL+P” combination. This way, you can also trigger the quick action menu from the left hand only!

Tom_Coggia
New Participant
March 29, 2021

As I’ve become more skilled at Figma, I’m still stumbling over this. Each time I want to back up a level (which from the comments - and my own experience - is an extremely common action), I have to take my hands off the mouse (because the enter key is on the right side of the keyboard, and I’m right-handed) and locate the shift + return keys. Depending on where my hands are, or the last time I used the keyboard - or some other mysterious factor - I can sometimes locate them just by touch, but often have to momentarily glance down to make sure my fingers are on the correct keys, as the two targets have keys above and below them. In contrast, the esc key is on the left side and is the very first key on the keyboard, easily located by its location relative to the upper left corner.
I get that if the enter key “goes down” then it’s logical for shift+enter to “go up” - but it’s just not that usable given the physical characteristics of the hardware (including the human hand with 90% of the population being right-handed).
This is a good example of the differences between theoretical vs. real world experience.

jussiv
April 27, 2021

You, sir, deserve a warm thank you for this solution!

Markus_Norsted
July 2, 2021

As a Figma user, I need to be able to select the parent entity of a group/frame/etc.

Today’s solution: apart from selecting a parent layer with the mouse in the left hand layer menu, I can select the parent by pressing Shift + Enter.

Problem: I need to let go of the mouse with my right hand in order to reach the Enter-key. This creates a disturbance in the creative flow (have to let go of the mouse, need to stare down at the keyboard, etc).

Suggested future solution: add the possibility to press the Escape-key to select the parent layer measured from whatever I have selected in the layer panel. Additional Escape-key press:es steps up in the hierarchy. Benefits is that I still can have the right hand placed on the mouse for movement etc.

I am sure that “the other UI-design software” has this implemented, and it works great. Please consider to implement this, at least like an option for the user.

Thanks,
Markus